


Still Too Far to Fall

by BrighteyedJill



Category: Heroes - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-16
Updated: 2009-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-03 00:54:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrighteyedJill/pseuds/BrighteyedJill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the way to Haiti, Nathan finds out something about his brother. (Takes place during the Season Three episode The Eclipse, Part I.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still Too Far to Fall

Nathan was distracted by the excitement of flying: the roar in his ears, the flap of the wind through his hair, the visceral giddiness that he would never admit to anyone, except perhaps Peter, who knew, who _understood_, and therefore didn’t need to be told. So it took Nathan until they were over Virginia to notice that his brother was shaking.

  
“Peter,” he called, and the wind whipped the sound over his shoulder and away. “You okay?”

  
“Fine,” came Peter’s reply. And perhaps it was the rush of atmosphere passing them by at near-Mach 1, but he sounded far from fine.

  
Nathan slowed, and Peter’s tight hold on his waist became a death grip. “It’s okay,” Nathan soothed. “I’m taking us down.” Peter didn’t reply, didn’t argue, and that was what convinced Nathan something was really wrong.

Nathan dropped below the clouds and aimed for a baseball diamond at the outskirts of the nearest town. Stopping wasn’t as easy as it looked, however, especially with Peter throwing off his balance, so the two ended up tumbling into the outfield head over heels.

  
Nathan brushed himself off and stumbled to his feet with one hand on his aching back. “Pete?”

  
Peter was on all fours, head bowed, breathing hard and fisting his hands in the close-cropped grass. He looked like he might be sick.

  
Nathan put a knee down next to him, a hand on his back. “You hurt?”

  
Peter shook his head, but he didn’t look up. He pressed his hands flat against the turf, then clenched them again. He was gulping in air like a drowning man, and Nathan wondered if being so high up had gotten him oxygen deprived. “What’s wrong?” When Peter shook his head again, Nathan stood and looked at his watch. “We do not have time for this.”

  
Peter was up in a flash, grabbing Nathan by the shoulders. “You are _not_ leaving me here.”

  
“Well are you hurt or not?” Nathan demanded. “We have over a thousand miles to go still.”

  
Peter let his hands fall from Nathan’s shoulders, and dropped his eyes. “It’s too far,” he muttered.

  
“What?”

  
“Too far to fall.”

  
It took a moment for Nathan to process the pieces of that statement, but as soon as he had, he grabbed Peter by the shoulder and pulled him close. “That’s not gonna happen, Peter.”

  
Peter shook his head. “I never thought before, what would happen…” He looked up to the sky, tentatively, and immediately dragged his eyes back down to the ground. “Even before I knew we could fly, I never thought what would happen if I fell.”

  
“You jumped off a building and you didn’t wonder what would happen if you hit the ground?”

  
Peter shrugged. “It never crossed my mind. But now…” He turned away from Nathan and took a few steps into the outfield, arms wrapped around himself. “What _he_ did changed me. It changed everything.”

  
“Bullshit.” Nathan grabbed Peter’s shoulder and turned him around. “It doesn’t matter if you can’t fly right now. I can get us to Haiti, but I’ll need your help when we get there.”

  
Peter didn’t look at him. “I thought it wouldn’t matter. I thought I could still be me, still be a hero, without my powers.”

  
“You are. And I will always protect you, power or no.”

  
Peter looked searchingly at him, and Nathan willed him to remember the thousand little loyalties of their lives: Nathan checking Peter’s closet for the bogeyman, Nathan carrying Peter back to the house after he broke his arm falling out of a tree, Nathan bailing Peter out of jail after an ill-advised high school keg party, Nathan arguing with Peter’s landlord about the hot water, Nathan carrying Peter off of Kirby Plaza. Peter could have been remembering all these things, or none of them; it was impossible to tell behind brown eyes narrowed in thought.

  
“It’s a long way down,” Peter said at last.

  
“I won’t let you fall. Hey.” Nathan pulled Peter into an embrace, and felt him relax in his arms. “I will not let you fall. Understand?”

  
“Yeah.” Peter nodded against his shoulder. “I believe you.” He pulled back far enough to meet Nathan’s eyes. “Some things don’t change.”


End file.
